Food and Recipes Meat Chicken Flavorful Whole Chicken Recipes To Make the Most of Every Piece of the Bird By Jenna Sims Jenna Sims Jenna is a Digital Editor for Southern Living and joined the team in 2014. She writes, produces, and assigns content with a focus on email growth and commerce content. She covers a range of topics in the lifestyle space from holiday gift guides to new product launches to tips for cooking with your air fryer. Southern Living's editorial guidelines Updated on November 2, 2022 Share Tweet Pin Email Trending Videos Photo: Greg DuPree From frying to roasting to slow cooking, there are many different ways you can prepare a whole chicken. If you've been intimidated with the task of cooking a whole bird, a simple slow-cooker recipe will be an easy place to start. If you're a more experienced cook and want to try a new method, we recommend giving spatchcocking a try. Whether you're serving chicken for a weeknight supper or for weekend entertaining, these recipes for cooking a whole chicken are flavorful, delicious, and ensure there's enough meat for everyone. Here are our best whole chicken recipes to make the most of every piece of the bird. 01 of 07 BBQ Rub Roasted Chickens with Potatoes and Carrots Greg DuPree Recipe: BBQ Rub Roasted Chickens with Potatoes and CarrotsThe easy homemade rub in this recipe gives chicken plenty of BBQ flavor and can be stored in an airtight container to use on other dishes as well. 02 of 07 Roasted Spatchcock Chicken Alison Miksch Recipe: Roasted Spatchcock Chicken Spatchcocking the bird before cooking, which is the process of removing the backbone, allows meat to cook more quickly and evenly. 03 of 07 Roast Chicken with Sweet Potatoes and Apples Iain Bagwell; Prop Stylist: Heather Chadduck; Food Stylist: Ana Kelly Recipe: Roast Chicken with Sweet Potatoes and Apples This recipe can be made with one large chicken or two smaller ones. 04 of 07 Slow-Cooker Chicken Southern Living Recipe: Slow-Cooker Chicken If you find cooking a whole chicken intimidating, this recipe couldn't be easier. It requires just 15 minutes of hands-on time and your slow cooker will do the rest of the work. 05 of 07 Top-Shelf Chicken Under a Brick Hector Sanchez Recipe: Top-Shelf Chicken Under a Brick This recipe uses the weight of a cast-iron skillet filled with potatoes to keep chicken flat against the grill grates. 06 of 07 Slow-cooked Barbecued Chicken Becky Luigart-Stayner Recipe: Slow-cooked Barbecued Chicken Your slow cooker and ingredients that can probably already be found in your pantry help this tangy chicken recipe come together. 07 of 07 Roasted Chicken with Apples and Herbs Victor Protasio; Prop Styling: Ginny Branch; Food Styling: Chelsea Zimmer Recipe: Roasted Chicken with Apples and Herbs Apples and shallots surround the bird for a beautiful (and delicious) centerpiece. Was this page helpful? Thanks for your feedback! Tell us why! Other Submit